Two Firefighting Helicopters Collide Battling Greek Wildfires; Danish Pilot and Interpreter Killed

Two firefighting helicopters that had taken off from the Elefsina air base collided while battling wildfires near Psatha, Greece. According to the Greek news portal e-Kathimerini, one helicopter struck the other from above, sending it crashing to the ground — the moment of impact was caught on video and quickly spread across social media.

Greece's fire service command reported shortly after the incident that the collision occurred during an operation in the Psatha area, and rescue efforts began immediately at the scene. Greek media initially reported a Romanian crew was involved, but the information was later corrected: one helicopter carried a British pilot and a Greek interpreter, while the other had a Danish pilot and a Greek interpreter aboard. According to Greek authorities, it was the second crew who later died from their injuries in hospital.

Around 500 firefighters are battling a blaze near the resort village of Porto Germeno, roughly 50 km west of Athens. Strong winds have pushed the fire to within a few kilometers of the city of Megara, home to some 36,000 people, and residents of nearby settlements have already been evacuated.

Investigators determined that the fire was sparked by a private electrical network used to feed power from wind turbines into the grid. Police have detained the project's designer and the person who installed the wiring from the wind farm, while the turbines' owner is still being sought.

On Saturday, rescuers were forced to evacuate 12 people directly from a beach after flames cut off their route by land. According to one volunteer firefighter, the village of Porto Germeno has been completely burned out: dead animals lie on the roads, rocks are falling, and everything around has been consumed by fire. Another volunteer described a wall of flames 20 to 30 meters high and admitted that people feared a repeat of the 2018 tragedy in Mati near Athens, where a wildfire killed more than 100 people.

Wildfires continue to rage across Greece, including on Crete. Firefighters from Czechia and other European countries are helping battle the blazes. On Friday, a rotation took place among two dozen Czech firefighters: on Sunday they were operating on the northern coast of the Gulf of Corinth near the town of Skala, while on Saturday they had been fighting fires near the village of Eio, the Czech fire service reported.

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Source: novinky.cz